fearthegecko

Okay, i hope this info can come in handy to whoever needs it.

Yesterday, i claybared the car for the first time. This was the first time my car had been clayed, as well as my first experience working with clay. I used Mother's California Gold Clay bar. I paid $19.99 for the package, which includes the clay bar, a bottle of Mother's Quick Detailing spray (for use as a lubricant) and a tiny bottle of Mother's Cleaner Wax, which is exactly the same as 3M Cleaner Wax. If you plan on using this type of wax again, i highly recommend buying the 3M, just because both products are exactly the same, and the 3M is cheaper, ounce for ounce.

Before claying the car, i washed the car twice with dawn liquid dish soap. I had had the car parked under a tree in front of my girlfiend's house all weekend, and all the gunk and sap from the tree was stuck to the car. so i scrubbed the car down real good twice, just to make sure i got off as much crap as possible before claying it. I found out later just how important this was, because the clay bar will pick up every little speck of dust and dirt that is still on the car. You can run it over what appears to be a completely clean area, and the amount of dust it picks up will make it look like you haven't washed the car in years, so it's best to get as much excess dirt off as possible.

After washing and drying, i went on to using the clay bar. The bar was a lot smaller than expected. I figured it would be roughly the size of a bar of soap, and it was maybe half that. before i started claying, i broke the bar into two halves, and only worked with one half for this use. I've been told time and again by people who are experienced with clay (as well as it being written in the instructions) that if you drop the bar, throw it out. So i broke the bar into two so that if anything happened, i'd still have another piece to work with. the instructions tell you to spray the detailing spray onto small areas of the car, run the bar over it, and then buff it out. Simpler said than done. I started on the hood, and worked on to the roof, and then the trunk. At first, the bar was sliding over the spray nice and easy. Then, when i went to buff out the spray, it wasn't coming off. It was leaving a residue on the hood. So, i figured it just wasn't drying long enough to be buffed out completely. I waited a while and tried again. It went better, but was still leaving a residue. This is the one tricky part about using the bar. The instructions tell you to not use a lot of pressure on the bar, but in order to get a lot of the sap off, it was necessary to do so. The thing to learn is that if you use more lube, you have to push harder on the bar to pick up all the junk from the paint. Use less lube, and the friction from the bar picks it up by itself. It takes acouple of minutes to get used to, but once you do, working with it is a lot easier. Just remeber to keep turning and re-kneading the clay, and it will work fine.

I got into the routine of working on one body panel at a time (hood, roof, trunk, quarter panel, etc.) and letting the spray completely dry before buffing it out. Buffing the spray is the hardest part of the whole process. I highly recommend that you invest in a buffer before doing this (people who went out and spent the money on a PC are permitted to snicker here). I had to break out the crappy 10" RO buffer, just because i didn't feel like having numb elbows for the next two days.

Claying strips your car of all the wax that has been applied, so you have to finish it up with a coat of wax, at the very least. I chose to finish it up with 2 coats of Liquid Glass polish, 2 coats of Meguier's glaze, and a coat of the Wax that came included in the package.



I realized after claying my car that clay isn't a miracle worker. You won't clay your car and have it sparkle like the day you drove it off the lot. In my opinion, it's actually more for touch than it is for looks. After i was done, the paint was completely smooth, like glass.
It does help out with certain things, for instance, bug and tar removal is simple with it. Yes, it does add a bit off shine to the paint, or at least it did in my case. the swirl marks on my hood aren't as appearent as they were before, the paint looks nicer, and the shine looks great, with only one application of wax, compared to the 3 coats it took beforehand. My final opinion is that although it takes a little bit to get used to working with, the results are well worth it.

jigsaw

Kick @$$. I've been meaning to do that for a while now. Glad the results were good. I always heard that using dish washing soap will destroy your clear coat?

blizz20oma

iTrader: (1)

dish soap will eat your wax, which is what you want before you go at it with the bar.

Good writeup on the clay job. I have yet to experience my virgin run w/clay. At the beginning of the spring and end of fall, I do a clear-coat restore/pre-wax and then a wax (with a wax or two in between during the summer)...the pre-wax is, as far as I can tell, supposed to do the same job as the claybar. One thing is, afair, the pre-wax does not instruct you to strip all previous wax, something I haven't been doing. I wonder if I should?

Anyways, is there anyone who uses a liquid pre-wax like I do, that can compare the result to clay? Because when I'm done w/the pre-wax, the finish seems very smooth to the touch, but I'm no detail fanatic...

ILoveMyMax

boo to much work :-) 3 dollars through the auto car wash and 1 coat of some Ibiz. Tada shiny and smooth for roughly 2-3 weeks. I used the clay before, I did notice what it took off. But not worth the time unless your car is really in need of a whole day of detailing.

optimus310

iTrader: (1)

well clay is not meant to give the paint a shiny look. Clay is usually to get rid of stuff n the surface of the paint such as overspay from a collision repair or something like that. I worked at a detailed shop for over 2 years and we sued many chemicals to make the paint look like brand new, but we never used clay for that purpose. A buffer will give you the ultimate results for paint restoration.
But good writeup!

hokiemax

iTrader: (2)

good write up! I do agree that the piece of clay in the $19.99 package is too small. where can we get a bigger piece of clay ony ?

fearthegecko

I take one day out of the week to make my car clean and looking nice. You have 2 choices with an auto car wash: Brushless, which guarantees no scratches, but doesen't get all the dirt off (don't believe me? wipe it down with a chamois, and see how much dirt you collect), then wax it, so you seal the extra dirt in....or 2: got to a car wash that uses brushes and pray your car doesen't come out scratched.

I look at the time i spend washing and detailing the car as an investment on the car. Everyone knows that a nissan can go 200k+miles, so what determines a good portion of a third-party resale value is the condition of the car. I figure 3-4 hours a week to spend with the car is well worth it. Plus, my car sparkles afterwards, and i get nothing but compliments.....I guess different strokes for different folks......

matty

iTrader: (54)

I just used the Mothers system today with the clay bar and all..I actaully just got done..I never let the showtime (lubricant) stuff dry completely before I buffed it...I put enough on so the clay bar slid accross easy, then I dried it with a cloth right away. after drying completly with the air, I waxed it and it came up pretty good. there werent many contaminants on my paint because the bar didnt get too dirty but it did get alittle dirty

maxfanfromohio

iTrader: (7)

It sounds like you had 16 hours to work on the car. Thanks for the informative write up, I just don't have that kind of time on my hands(wife and kids).

endus

iTrader: (1)

That's a pretty optimistic assessment. The carwashes without spinning brushes are better but will still leave swirls and scratches from all the **** that other people's cars leave behind. Brush car washes are absoloutly guaranteeed to leave swirls and destroy your car. Auto car washes are ****ing garbage. Never bring your car to one. If you're lazy go to the manual spray bays and for the love of god DON'T use the brush on any painted surface. There is no substitute for hard work when it comes to having your car look good. People have to find their own level of good looks/effort tradeoff. Some peoople are comfortable with scratches and swirls that make their cars look like ***. That's okay, but personally I laugh at people who aer pimping their rides and have all ghetto *** swirl marks all over the place...**** isn't even shiny.

Since the last time I posted my elitist opinions on detailing here I have softened my opinion of clay bars. I still don't use one, but I can see the usefullness for people that haven't cleaned their paint in awhile. Good writeup, although the reduction in swirl marks you note is almost defniitely because of the polish you used and not the clay. It sounds like you used the clay for exactly what it is supposed to be used for then followed up with a quality detailing routine.

Also Dawn is fine for your clearcoat, but you absoloutly *must* wax if you wash your car with it. Dawn will easily strip all the wax off your car. People use it to get rid of the old wax before polishing and rewaxing. Never use Dawn to wash your car if you aren't going to wax afterwards.

96BLUMAX

iTrader: (3)

Yeah i agree that it is a great tool. My only problem i guess with it is patients.

MaximaMoJo

I used the clay magic clay bar on my artic white pearl Maxima and I thought it worked great. I did the same exact steps as above and the paint came out absolutely smooth as glass. I waxed with Meguiars Gold Class and I think clay baring first helped bring depth to the paint(bring out the pearl) and help the wax adhere to the paint better (wax lasts longer). This is just my experience, the clay magic bar was about the size of a bar of soap and was about the same price it is sold at Pepboys.

matty

iTrader: (54)

I think you should have used a sap remover for the all the sap..I had a few dropped of sap on my car and I attacked them with bug/sap remover...Works alot more efficiently then the bar, plus you dont want sap residue on the bar

-matt

Joeycurl

I used Mothers clay bar a week after I bought the car used, and man what a difference. It's definately a full days work to wash, clay, and wax the car...but the results are all worth it. It's actually a good idea to clay your car at least once a year to get off all that build up. All in all good job.

mitch33x

iTrader: (5)

awesome, thanks for the writeup

fearthegecko

i considered that, but, no lie, it would have been cheaper to buy 3 clay bars than the it would be to buy the amount of bug&tar remover for what was on my car. The tree basically let go all of it's seeds or whatever all over the car.

I suppose that i used the tree sap thing more as an excuse to use the bar than anything. I've wanted to try the clay bar since i first heard about it, and i finally had a reason to.


i completely agree. However, i think that since the dawn/clay bar stripped the car of all it's wax, it was easier for the polish to get right in there and do it's job, rather than have a layer of wax with the polish on top of it.

I've heard nothing but good things about 3M's swirl mark remover. I'm going to try it later this summer. The only thing is that i've heard that (when removing swirl marks) hand buffing can't come close to comparing to what a Random orbit buffer will do. So now i have an excuse to buy a porter cable RO buffer.....now all i need is the money.

Armelius

I used the clay bar for the overspray I got while painting. It works but usually it takes two swipes to get all the overspray off.

endus

iTrader: (1)

Some other member (maybe you?) recommended the Autopia forums http://www.autopia.org/forums/index.php . I've been impressed with the quality of info there and I have even learned a few things.

I used Meguiars Dual Action Cleaner Polish and Swirl Free Polish on my car last weekend and I am impressed with the difference it has made. I'm sure the 3m is just as good.

The PC is indispensible. Last weekend I did 6 separate steps...I can't even imagine how long it would have taken me by hand...

PrinzII

iTrader: (2)

One of the posters asked about larger clay bars than the ones that come in kits. The answer is yes! Go to www.autodetail.com and pick up the Clay Magic 200 gm bar for $19.99.

wally9mm

Clay Magic...

fearthegecko

I totally agree. Autopia.org is the best resource when it comes to detailing info.

95seMax

iTrader: (11)

i just clay bared my max for the very first time on suday, i am amazed by how much dirt was stuck on my paint even after washing car ., i applied the wax that comes with the bottle,

the results are noticable, my paint shines from down the block now, almost like a mirror again, well worth the money and time